Director, Program Management

Position Overview

The Director, Program Management is responsible for managing resources, timelines, and budgets for late clinical and pre-commercial programs at Disc Medicine. This is a highly cross-functional and collaborative role, providing operational leadership for cross-functional teams and demanding excellent cross-functional collaboration skills, with ability to build trusting relationships. The Program Manager (PM), in collaboration with the Program Lead (PL), will have a firm understanding of program strategy, critical path activities, interdependencies, risks and mitigation plans, and organizational governance.

Additionally, the PM will lead program long-range planning, adhere to the organization's Program Management best practices, and drive program team goal planning and execution.

The successful candidate will be proactive, highly organized, detail-oriented, possess a strong understanding of the whole spectrum of the drug development process (from Phase 1 first-in-human to Phase 3 confirmatory studies) in the biopharmaceutical industry, be comfortable with ambiguity, and have a proven track record managing stakeholders and driving multifaceted, inter-disciplinary program teams. The candidate will also have strong communication and facilitation skills, enabling effective collaboration and conflict resolution within program teams and throughout the organization.

Responsibilities

• Partner closely with PL to drive the development and execution of strategic, integrated program team goals for late clinical programs.
• Collaborate across Clinical Development, Clinical Operations, Regulatory Affairs, CMC, Quality Affairs, Medical Affairs, Business Development, Finance, and Commercial.
• Ensure cross-functional coherence and maintain alignment through effective communication with cross-functional program team members, Executive Team members, and key stakeholders on program status, objectives, risks, and mitigation plans.
• Identify appropriate presentation topics and coordinate preparation of and program team alignment with compelling presentation materials for governance meetings.
• Ensure cross-functional reporting and presentation of relevant information to program team and other key stakeholders.
• Facilitate decision-making, collaboration, and problem-solving with people at all levels of the organization to accomplish program team goals that are ambitious yet achievable.
• Identify program bottlenecks and issues. Proactively drive for their resolution.
• Recognize, track, and monitor key program assumptions, milestones, and decision points to drive delivery of program objectives.
• Facilitate team meetings using program management best practices and tools to drive cross-functional communication, timely and effective decision making and conflict resolution, and successful execution of project objectives.
• Develop and maintain risk registry along with the Portfolio and Program Management team including detailed risk assessments, mitigations, and resolutions.
• Identify process improvement opportunities and develop and implement solutions.
• Apply experience and lessons learned to manage program team dynamics and performance.
• Partner with Finance to develop budgets/forecasts/long-range plans for assigned program(s).
• Act as team player and mentor/coach to junior colleagues to drive professional growth. Listen to and value others' thoughts and ideas. Strive for inclusion and belonging.

Requirements

• MS/PhD in a scientific-related field.
• 12 – 15 years in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry.
• 7 – 10 years of meaningful experience and significant time spent in direct program management executing strategies in the drug-development space, supporting drug-development programs (level commensurate with experience), with experience in late clinical programs (Phase 2 into Phase 3 and pre-commercial), Investigational New Drug (IND) application, New Drug Application (NDA)/Biologics License Application (BLA), and Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) preparation.
• Proficiency in MS Office (including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel).
• Proficiency in Smartsheet and its integration with programs to support Gantt chart and program timeline.
• PMP/PgMP certification (PMI) preferred.
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills; time/resource management; attention to detail; and proven success working in matrixed, highly collaborative environments with focus on operational excellence.
• Demonstrated ability to lead a cross-functional team and to influence at all levels of an organization.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, innovative, and, at times, uncertain or changing environment while remaining flexible, proactive, and resourceful.
• Proven track record prioritizing and managing multiple tasks simultaneously, integrating cross-functional issues, and balancing competing priorities effectively.
• Demonstrated competence in independently navigating and synthesizing complex information in a fluid environment.